Realy - A Catholic Gardeners Spiritual Almanac: Cultivating Your Faith Throughout the Year

May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb.

Deuteronomy 32:2

W hen I seek peace or solace in my life I am drawn to a garden. The working in soil and among plants drains pent-up energy. I feel physical release and rejuvenated spiritually as I labor and pray. Walking through a landscape helps slow down and order my thoughts, making room for the Holy Spirit to enter. Whether I am working or walking, I open myself to the presence of God in nature.

It is this opening oneself to the presence of the Creator through creation that I will share with you. People have asked me how I create spiritual gardens that reveal the holy and then asked how they can do the same for themselves. In this book I will guide you to develop this spiritual sense through the seasons of nature and the seasons of our Church.

This book is designed to take your desire to be near God and find a way to make him more apparent through your gardens. We can bring elements of our faith into outdoor spaces to help us focus on prayer, see more clearly relevant Bible passages about nature, and appreciate our Catholic heritage on a deeper level.

Our heritage is rich with stories, tales, and legends of unverifiable historical events. Before monasteries began developing books, our salvation history was passed down by word of mouth, much as we do today in our own families, as we talk and share stories. As Catholics, we too share many stories. We tell stories about our saints, about the symbolism of the Christmas Star or the legend of the cross in the blossom of a dogwood. There are a lot of stories about nature and religion, as varied as the countries and cultures that gave rise to them.

Many of the analogies we use come from nature. Jesus too followed this narrative style as he spoke in parables to express in more concrete ways how a hidden God works visibly in our lives. The words of our faith, written or spoken, are as alive as nature.

The stories we share often contain symbols or associations to a doctrine of our Church. St. Patrick, for example, used the three-leaf clover to teach about the Holy Trinity. Weve learned many stories over our lifetimes. There are wondrous Bible stories from the Old Testament of adventure and adversity. We also have the legends of saints, some of whom often stumbled in their humanity, who left us great tales of living a faith-filled life. And then there are the things of nature with stories that lead us to another way of seeing. It is in this sharing that our faith is nurtured.